


in the hour-before-dawn dark

by Fluffypanda



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Centaur Steve Rogers, Centaurs, Drunken Shenanigans, Explicit Language, Horseback Riding, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, M/M, Non-Sexual Slavery, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Young Tony Stark, dressage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-31
Updated: 2019-07-31
Packaged: 2020-07-28 04:48:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20058262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fluffypanda/pseuds/Fluffypanda
Summary: The night Tony wanders into Tiberius Stone's horse barn and its immediate aftermath.





	in the hour-before-dawn dark

**Author's Note:**

> For my stony bingo square N2- Terrible Choices
> 
> Inspired by [hackedmotionsensors' art!](https://hackedmotionsensors.tumblr.com/post/179229346984/la-vie-stevetony)
> 
> Thanks to [neverthelessthesun](https://archiveofourown.org/users/neverthelessthesun/pseuds/neverthelessthesun) for the beta!
> 
> Minor warning for mildly uncomfortable sexual comments + touch.
> 
> Title from The Horses by Ted Hughes

He may have had too much to drink, Tony finally admitted to himself when the ground shifted under his feet and dumped him into a bush. It’d been hard to keep track with Ty topping up his punch glass every time he looked away. He couldn’t remember what they’d been celebrating, but he wasn’t going to kill the mood by making a thing of it.

Two sets of stars blinked at Tony from above, brightly haloed in the moonless sky. Tony focused and could just make out Venus, the brightest object in the sky, if you discounted passing airplanes. Maybe he could stay here. The bush was nice, almost comfortable except for the branch poking him in the kidney.

Tony shivered and stuck his hands in his armpits.

Alright, so he didn’t want to go back to the party.

It didn’t make sense. He was the kind of guy that could always be counted on for a good time. Parties didn’t start, not really, until he was there. Everyone said so. He’d just be touring Europe’s hottest night clubs for the hundredth time, If Ty hadn’t insisted he come back to the states for summer break. Ty’s parties were better than any nightclub-- the booze was better anyway.

But it had been too hot and too loud and all of Ty’s friends wanted to hang off of Tony, touching him everywhere. They laughed too hard at everything he said, at things he hadn’t thought were jokes until he said them. Ty wouldn’t even spare Tony a glance, he was so wrapped up in everyone else and Tony just couldn’t take it anymore. He had peeled away from the crowd and snuck out the bathroom window.

Tony wondered if anyone noticed he was missing. He wondered if  _ Ty _ noticed he was missing. It didn’t seem likely.

He was cold and felt horrible and wanted to go home. But home was not the dingy little Cambridge apartment he was picturing. Like Rhodey, that was long gone. Instead it was an empty condo at the other Cambridge, his parent’s latest real estate acquisition where he could face judgment for not being the son his parents wanted, or the couch of whoever was putting up with him that week--which meant crawling back there and kicking out whoever was fucking in the room Ty promised him.

Fuck that.

Tony clawed his way out of the bush, swallowing back his nausea. Vaguely hoping there was a garden shed he could sleep in, Tony stumbled through the maze of hedges that spanned half the mansion grounds and pushed into the first building he saw-- a barn.

A light flicked on and Tony froze on one wobbly foot, sure he’d been caught--what, sneaking off like a loser? He searched his brain for a lie, anything better than being too lame to enjoy a party. For several long minutes, he sweated bullets. A horse nickered from a nearby stall, but no one came.

Finally it occurred to Tony that if anyone were here, they would have said something by now. He craned his head around to check. The light was on a motion sensor.

Laughing, Tony stumbled over and collapsed on a stool left out in front of a stall.

The stall was one of many in the barn-- or stable, Tony supposed. That’s what it was called when you kept horses inside, right? Framed photos of Ty holding up various trophies next to horses lined the walls. Tony was pretty sure he’d seen those very same trophies in a cabinet back inside. Ty took great pains to point them out to anyone who looked like they hadn’t noticed. He liked everyone knowing that he was a fancy bastard that did horse ballet.

“You stink.”

Tony nearly jumped out of his skin. He smacked his head on the stall door and tumbled off the stool. Rubbing his head, he looked for the source of the voice.

A man, impossibly tall, loomed over him from the other side of the door.

“Y’re big.” The words tumbled out of Tony’s mouth.

“Oh, a smart one.”

What the barn’s light did not illuminate was cast in a deep shadow, but it was enough to see an expanse of golden skin stretched across a muscled chest. Tony admired the view, taking in the sculpted abs and trim waist--

Then Tony’s brain finally caught up to what the Greek god in front of him had actually said.

“Wait, w’s that  _ sarcasm?  _ I’mma certified genius!” Tony huffed, using the stool to unsteadily pull himself to his feet. “MENSA’s been beggin’ me to join f’r...years...”

Tony trailed off as it dawned on him that something was wrong with the picture. Instead of continuing down into a pair of normal (but presumably smoking hot) legs, the man’s hips disappeared into an equine body.

He’d seen centaurs before, of course. There were always a few at the races and competitions his mother dragged him to during the summer. Though he never actually gotten up close with one, Tony had the general impression that they were dead-eyed creatures happy to follow a lead and accept treats from their masters hands. This one was  _ nothing _ like that.

“Don’t tell nobody I was hidin’ here, and I won’t tell ‘em about your--your terrifyin’ loomin’ habits, and we can call it even--” Tony squinted at the name-plate on the door. “Gold-Dancing-on-the-Wind?”

That was a mouthful. Although, if he thought about it, all the centaurs he’d ever heard of were named with the little sentence fragments like Moonlight-Shimmering-on-Water or Oak-Leaves-Falling-in-Autumn. He’d heard something else about centaur names...a bunch of superstitious nonsense, whatever it was.

“Too long. How ‘bout Goldie?” Tony yawned, the night was starting to catch up with him.

Gold-Dancing-on-the-Wind only frowned at him. For all that Tony could barely see it, it was an impressive frown. It reminded Tony of when he’d gone too far and disappointed even Jarvis.

“Gold-Dancing?”

The frown deepened and Tony winced. “’m sorry. I’m an asshole. It’s Gold-Dancing-on-the-Wind. Don’t be mad, okaay?”

“That’s not my name,” Not-Gold-Dancing-on-the-Wind snorted angrily.

Tony stumbled back at the force behind the words. “’s not?”

“Humans think they can make me into what they want because they took my herd and put me in chains. I refuse to surrender my  _ name _ to the likes of them,” the centaur spat. “Gold-Dancing-on-the-Wind is not who I will be.”

Tony blinked, head spinning. He might have lost track of the conversation at some point, because when he said  _ name _ , it sounded kind of like  _ fate.  _ Strange, considering how those words sound almost nothing alike. What Tony did know, however, was that it sucked being told who you were supposed to be. “Honestly, fuck ‘em.”

“What?”

Not-Gold-Dancing-on-the-Wind took a few mincing steps back, accompanied by a rattle that made that comment about chains sound a whole lot less metaphorical.

“I said, fuck ‘em. Are you…?”

Frowning, Tony climbed up on the stool and peered into the gloom beyond the stall door. Short chains running between two leather cuffs locked on the front and back legs effectively hobbled the centaur. With a jolt, Tony realized his arms were bound behind his back as well.

Confusion then anger swept over Tony, leaving him cold for the first time since he entered the barn. He swallowed back the sour taste in his mouth and scrambled up onto the top of the door.

Not-Gold-Dancing-on-the-Wind jerked away, eyes wide. “Why are you coming in here?”

Once he reached the top, he wobbled, arms swinging out in an attempt to right himself, but to no avail. He fell into the hay on the other side with a painful thud. He sat up, dizzier than ever.

“Urghh...” Tony’s stomach roiled and he heaved, spilling the contents on the stall floor. He took a moment to just lie there and let everything settle.

“That’s disgusting.”

Not-Gold-Dancing-on-the-Wind moved away as best he could, but he was completely backed into the corner at this point. Once the room stopped spinning, Tony rolled over and searched his pockets.

Not-Gold-Dancing-on-the-Wind asked, “What are you doing?”

“Lookin’ for a-a thing. I know I gottit.” Tony dug through various odds and ends, car keys, loose change, a pair of panties, until at last he triumphantly pulled a bit of wire out. 

“Ah-ha! Okay, I’m busting you out,” Tony said, crouching by Not-Gold-Dancing-on-the-Wind’s legs, and reached for the first lock.

The centaur went still.

Tony squinted through the darkness at the blurry keyhole and tried to line his wire up before jabbing it in. The wire missed its mark and, fighting back a yawn, Tony tried again.

“You can call me Steve.”

Tony’s head shot up so fast he thought it’d topple off his shoulders. Steve-Not-Gold-Dancing-on-the-Wind glanced shyly down at Tony before returning to his usual stoic expression. Tony almost thought he imagined it.

When Tony looked back down at his hands, the wire was gone.

“Uh oh.” He frantically patted around for it in the hay.

“Uh oh?” Steve said, but complied when Tony lifted one of his hooves to look underneath. “What’s ‘uh oh’?

“You know what they say about looking for a needle in a haystack?” and here he was without a damn magnet.

He began grabbing handfuls of hay and throwing them over his shoulder, searching for any kind of glimmer in the dim light. If he could just get all of this damn hay out of the way, he might just be able to find the damn thing.

Then the light turned off.

“Ugh!” Tony said, rearing back from the slimy mess his hand slid through and whacking his head on the wall again. “Ow! Fuck!”

“Are you all right?”

“I think I’m gonna lay down for a bit...” Tony mumbled as he curled into the hay.

Consciousness fading in and out, Tony lost track of time. A large, warm body pressed up against his.

“Just my luck,” Steve said, heaving a sigh.

Tony instinctively pulled closer until he could lay his head on one great equine side. He drifted off with the gentle rising and falling of Steve’s chest.

  
  
  


Tony woke, hung over and exhausted, and turned over to escape the blinding light with a groan. Something must have died in his mouth. Tony clapped his hands over his ears when people started shouting. Everything, but especially his head, hurt like it was one giant bruise and whoever was yelling in his ear was not helping matters.

Finally giving up on sleep, Tony cracked one bleary eye open to see a large shadow standing over him. Blinking, Tony rubbed his eyes until the shadow resolved itself into a centaur-- Steve.

In the daylight, Tony finally got a good look at him. He was beautiful, all wonderfully portioned muscles and a coat like sunshine. He was also angry.

He shouted, “Don’t come any closer. He’s fine! I didn’t  _ do _ anything!”

“Tony!” Ty yelled from behind a wall of men in overalls. 

Wincing, Tony turned. “Huh?”

“Thank god! The stable hands thought he killed you!” Ty shouted, looking genuinely relieved. “What are you waiting for, get him out of there!”

Tony’s head pounded as he looked around in confusion. Everyone seemed to be watching Steve warily while one of the stable hands opened the stall door.

“What--him?” Tony said as he was dragged away.

Ty immediately threw his arm over Tony’s shoulder once he was out of the stall. “I thought you bailed on me, but you spent the night here with the animals? What the hell were you doing in there?”

Forcing a laugh, Tony picked a piece of straw from his hair. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“You must have been wasted! Stick with me next time, huh?” Ty squeezed Tony and gave him a little shake.

Tony took a couple of deep breaths and fought the urge to barf, again. This was the worst hangover he had in years. At this point he’d trade his favorite car for five minutes in an actual bed, no matter what kind of action it had seen last night. And yet--

“You never mentioned you got a centaur.”

“I was going to wait until he was show ready, but he’s been nearly uncontrollable.” Ty shot a poisonous look at Steve.

Steve, for his part, was too busy squaring off against three leery stable hands to even notice Ty’s ire. They were trying to drag him from the stall.

“I’ll buy him from you.”

Ty burst into laughter. “Tony, we both know your talents don’t exactly lie with riding  _ horses, _ ” he said, moving his hand down to Tony’s waist.

“I’ve had riding lessons, but thanks for the vote of confidence, Ty.” Getting increasingly annoyed, Tony batted Ty away. “How hard could it be?”

Ty gave Tony a calculating look. Then a grin stole over his face. “Since you’re so sure...the next competition is in three months. I can get your name on the roster.”

A competition? Tony’s mind blanked. There was no way he could enter a competition.

He risked a look back at Steve, who was tugging on his lead while someone cleaned out his stall.

Slowly, Tony said, “If we compete…you’ll sell him to me?”

“If you  _ win _ , he’s all yours.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is a prequel to a story I have outlined and will probably write at some point in the future, so please let me know what you think!


End file.
